June 5, 2025 • 16 mins
Get in Touch with Dan by Texting Now
Racing bonds friendships in unexpected ways. For years, my friend Jeff Zurcher and I have shared our Indianapolis 500 experiences through hundreds of text messages, creating our own personal commentary regardless of where we're watching from. After this year's 109th running, we finally sat down to capture that friendship and passion in podcast form.
This post-race conversation takes you through the complete Indy 500 experience—from the unseasonably cool 63-degree weather and sellout crowd of 300,000+ fans to the historic performances that defined this year's race. We dissect Team Penske's qualifying drama that sent defending champion Josef Newgarden to the back row, rookie Robert Schwartzman's incredible pole position (the first rookie pole-sitter since 1983), and the strategic fuel management that ultimately crowned Alex Palou as a first-time winner.
Beyond the competition itself, we reflect on what makes the Indianapolis 500 truly special—the emotional military tributes, the pageantry, and the sense of American tradition that permeates the entire event. Whether you're a dedicated racing enthusiast or simply curious about the world's largest single-day sporting event, our conversation captures both the technical details and the emotional resonance of this legendary race. Join us for this intimate glimpse into the friendship and passion that the Greatest Spectacle in Racing continues to inspire year after year.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Dan the Road Trip Guy.
I'm your host, dan, and eachweek we'll embark on a new
adventure, discovering memoriesand life lessons of our
incredible guests, from everydaytravelers to thrill seekers and
everyone in between.
This podcast is your front rowseat to inspiring stories of
passion, resilience and thepursuit of happiness.
So buckle up and enjoy the ride.
(00:24):
Today it's my good friend, jeffZerker and I.
We have never watched theIndianapolis 500 together, but
(00:47):
that has not stopped us fromcontinual texting during the
race, no matter where each oneof us was at.
We literally text hundreds ofmessages back and forth during
the race, with our owncommentating on the race, and
this year was no different.
In the past we've done apre-race show to talk about the
upcoming race, and sometimes thereception is just not good if
I'm at the Speedway.
So this year we decided we'lldo a post-race show when each of
(01:10):
us was sitting in our ownstudios, and that's what you got
.
Coming at you Just a fewminutes with me and my good
friend Jeff Zerker as we talkabout the 109th running of the
Indianapolis 500.
I hope you enjoy thisconversation between two friends
who just love the Indianapolis500.
(01:31):
Well, we typically do apre-race show.
My good friend Jeff Zerker andI have done it a few years in a
row, but today we decided let'sdo a post-race show, number one,
because it's very difficult toget a cell connection.
I was in Indianapolis, jeff wasback here in lovely Cincinnati.
So how are you doing, jeff?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Hey, good afternoon Dan.
A lot better weather today,memorial Day, than it was
yesterday.
Certainly.
I know you took some rain andsome cold there at the track.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
We were not dressed appropriately for the day, but
we got through it.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
We were watching the broadcast on TV, of course, and
they were showing fans with notnecessarily winter coats, but
certainly fall attire, and myson, cale, asked me, dad, is it
cold there?
And I said, well, it's coldenough.
They were showing a temperatureof 63 degrees and a track
temperature to start about 72,which caused some issues early
on the sun.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
The sun never came out and the wind was.
The wind continued to blow andthen we get outside.
We're walking back to our carand we both my wife and I looked
at each other and it was likethere's no wind now.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Somehow it gets down into the 300,000 people in
circles around that track.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I'll tell you it was a.
It was a packed place, that'sfor sure.
Yeah, I'll tell you it was a.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
It was a packed place , that's for sure yeah, I
believe they said it was thefirst sellout in I don't know
2009, 2010.
Yeah, something wrong, but it's.
It's, yeah, the first time in along time.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So there were a lot of people there, for sure.
Well, let's talk about uh, youknow, leading up to this race,
last week's qualifying, when wesaw three Penske cars actually
in the top 12, but then somedrama occurred, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I mean, especially with the two-time defending
champ getting moved to the backrow.
Will Power as well, anothernotable name.
But yeah, you know Penske.
I was reading some articlesleading up to the race and you
know people, of course differentconspiracy theories with him,
with his position at theIndianapolis Motor Speedway now,
but man, I tell you, the carsavailed themselves well and I
(03:34):
saw that Penske fired a lot ofexecutives that were supposed to
be overseeing that kind ofthing.
I think he fired him last weekbefore the race.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yeah, he did, and you know it's a shame because most
of those folks have been withhim a long time and I don't know
did that little modification.
But as you and I know you knowtenths of seconds are a big deal
at that race.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, especially where you start from right.
And that was the big news,especially if Newgarden could
have finished, I mean, even ifhe wouldn't have won.
But just the number of placesgained, I think was almost a
record.
Uh, at one point uh, perhaps itwas it was near tied to the
record they're talking about onthe TV broadcast.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So he ran a he ran a good race and then he had that
mechanical issue in the pits,which, from where you were
sitting right Pit row, you saw,uh, an inordinate amount of
action on pit road we saw quitea bit, yeah, right in front of
us just about and, uh, you know,leading up to the race,
mclaughlin was also in the top12, but he crashed his car in
(04:33):
morning practice before, uh,qualifying yeah, I mean then you
know, just to going from whatI've listened, saw and heard on
tv, the track was cold and andhe's trying to break in the
tires and do the swerving andjust hit a cold spot or
something, maybe a little, evenmoisture perhaps.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Man, it was sad to see and he was definitely
distraught.
You feel so bad, not just forthe driver but the whole team.
I think that's what a lot ofpeople who maybe don't follow
racing don't think about is allthe people involved in getting
that car onto the track.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah, and this is not a weekend event.
This starts in early May afterthe Grand Prix and then they go
through enormous practice timeand then it comes down to
qualifying.
Qualifying is a littledifferent today.
I was looking back at an oldschedule, I think from 95, and
how much practice you know.
Pole day was the first Saturdayand that set the pole and then
(05:31):
everything else startedhappening after that.
It's a little bit differenttoday.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah, a little bit different, and nobody driving.
You know we had Helio in therace as kind of the grandfather,
but nobody driving back in 1995is certainly driving now,
speaking of new guys, robertSchwartzman, the first rookie on
the pole since Teo Fabi, Ithink, in 1983.
That was exciting for him.
(05:57):
I know he didn't finish like hewanted to, but it was neat to
see a rookie on the pole again.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, that was great to see and that's a new team.
Had a rookie rookie team on thepole this year.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, and interesting , His, his ethnicity is Israeli
Russian, so you don't you don'tsee too many Israeli Russian
guys in in open wheel.
So, uh, really reallyinteresting storyline for him Of
course.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Then you had, uh the veteran, uh veteran, Takuma Sato
, sitting in the middle of therow, 48 years old, and ended up
leading the most laps.
I just looked it up a momentago, but then unfortunately
overshot his pit stall.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Which we again, you know you're, you saw a lot of
that and, I think, the coldconditions.
A lot of guys said that brakeswere just locked up or gone and
slid through and hit, hit thewall or, you know, overshot
stops and that was a problem.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
something on the brakes and it starts smoking and
I thought wow, he's, he's donebefore we even start.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Right, I think you know he advantageous for him was
McLaughlin causing the yellowright so they didn't have to
start running hard.
And they, they said it was aleft rear caliper that they,
they changed out and yeah, sothat kind of ruined his day of
having to change out a caliper.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
But kudos to the team that they got it changed, got
him back out.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
I think this year too .
He just passed, looking at someof the notes from the race
Pat's AJ Foyt's record 20consecutive races in his number.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Well, and the other was he now has 408 IndyCar
starts, not Indy 500s, butIndyCar starts which just passed
, the legend Mario Andretti, whohad a 407.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Oh, wow, okay, yeah, I mean I think there was some
cool history made yesterday,even aside from the winner of
the poll, helio, trying to findthat stat I was reading about.
Um well, he had the fastest lap, which that's kind of
interesting.
And then, uh, you know, fourthplace all time and starts with
25, with Foyt being 35 and Mario29 and Alan Sir senior 27.
(08:15):
And uh, the one other piece ofhistory, helio.
He completed the race, the fullrace, for the 19th time and
that's a record.
And check this out, dan, he'srun 25 Indy 500s.
How many times do you thinkhe's finished the race?
Do you have any idea?
Speaker 1 (08:33):
You know, I don't know.
I'm assuming you've looked itup.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, it's not something I have in memory, but
23 out of 25 races he has loggedthe full go.
Wow, that's a testament,obviously, to him as a driver,
but, as we were talking aboutearlier, the team, yeah, that's
an amazing stat.
That might be one that willlast for a while.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
He still has just this fire, this passion.
I watched a reel on him showingoff his motorhome and it was
just like, oh my gosh, he'sselling everybody on a motorhome
, just showing off all thedetails of it.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I'd still like to see him get number five.
That would be well-deserved.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, that place would go crazy.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I was going to say another veteran who we like, Ed
Carpenter and his team, wasrunning really well the cars on
his team for a period, wasrunning really well on the cars
on his team for a period, buthe's now driven almost 10,000
laps in the 9,975, which isfifth place.
All time he surpassed TonyKanaan at this race, so good to
see Ed doing well.
(09:34):
And another Hoosier, ConnorDaly, had a good run there for a
while too.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, connor, there, uh, for a while too.
Yeah, connor.
And then you know, davidmalukas, uh, another, uh young
american who got, he got injuredearly last year and so he lost
his ride with arrow, and thisyear he got, uh, he got on with
with aj and uh, he ran a reallystrong race.
So that was good to see.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Yeah, let's talk about your friend Stingray Rob
for a minute.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Yeah, Stingray.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Unfortunate circumstance.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, you know, it was like we couldn't see that
crash.
It went past us.
But it looks like watching thereplay that Kyle Larson, who's a
NASCAR driver and was trying todo the double by going Indy 500
and then doing the NASCAR 600in Charlotte but it looked like
you saw it and you texted mewhat happened.
(10:26):
But he downshifted in thecorner, lost it, just hit.
Kiffin Simpson took.
Kiffin out and then Stingraytried to avoid, went up high and
got in the marbles and justcame down and hit the barrier.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yeah, and then he got out and stood up on his car and
basically raised his hands, his, stood up on his car and
basically raised his hands, uh,in exasperation.
Basically, you know what areyou doing, Kyle Larson, but I,
you know very, very measuredinterview.
Uh, later on, when they talkedto him and he had mentioned to
you know, they just didn't sweepit quite high enough.
They would have swept it alittle bit higher, he might have
(11:01):
been able to stay in it, butman, it just shows you those
high speeds.
You have a slight touch andit'll do it to you.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
You know for him and Kiffin just wrong place, wrong
time, right, yep, yeah.
But yeah, I texted his family Isaid hey, great interview he
gave, didn't place any blame andhe's just a fine young man.
So hopefully he had a greatfinish at Long Beach, so Knight.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Well, and you know, got to lead the 500 last year
and I think last year was therecord for number of race
leaders, if my memory served mecorrect, and I think this year
there was what 13 or 14 guys upfront at different times.
This year there was what 13 or14 guys up front at different
times with Hunter, ray and SatoI think were the top lapers
(11:49):
yesterday.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
But then we see Alex Pillow.
He's won five of six races thisyear.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
This young guy is just hard to beat.
Well, and the thing yesterday,you know, and you and I were
texting about this, it was, youknow, what's his, what's his
fuel strategy going to be downthe end, toward the end.
Erickson, of course he gotbumped, uh, with the post post
race inspection down to the end.
But you know, erickson wasgreat on fuel, great on tires
and, and alex was questionableon fuel and questionable on
(12:20):
tires.
But uh, man, once he got theword from the engineer and from
the team, he just he went rightaround Erickson and I think
those two cars that were lappeddown really helped him extend
his fuel where it didn't haveany worries, towards towards the
end there.
So it was great to see him winand you, you called it, you said
there's going to be a firsttime winner this year and
certainly fun to see him win.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Well, it was clear, you know you're looking at.
Well, of course Erickson's won,and so I'm looking at that list
and I'm going oh man, there'sgot to be a first timer here and
I was really happy to see that.
It was great to see.
Well, now AJ's car has moved tosecond place.
You mentioned the penaltyagainst Erickson, which is a
shame.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, Well, and another guy who just has been so
consistent these last four orfive years, pato award, uh up to
third and uh, you know he'sgotta be.
He's going to be breakingthrough, I think, in a victory
here the next couple of years.
It seems he's poised for that.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Yeah, and he is a fan favorite.
You could just sense it theraces we've been to, people just
love him and he's.
He's got the energy of likeelio uh, who just gets people
excited.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Oh, and aj had another car in fifth with uh uh
faroochi, yeah, yeah, good tosee, yep, and of course, ganassi
winning.
And uh, I saw a stat.
I think it was his sixth teamwin and second all-time behind
Penske with 20 maybe.
Yeah, long way to go, yeah, buthey, I think it's fun to see.
You know you don't want to calla Ganassi team underdog by any
(13:53):
stretch, but you know it seemslike lately when a Penske car
doesn't win, it's kind of aunique situation here.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah, for sure, and you know I was telling you, uh,
I found myself a bit emotionalyesterday and you know it's just
an emotional race, uh, not justthe auto race, but just the.
I call it kind of the tributeto America, the tribute to our
veterans, uh tribute to thosewho have given their lives, but
(14:20):
boy it it.
It was, uh seemed like it waswho have given their lives, but
boy it seemed like it was justbigger than I had seen in the
past.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, it was neat to see on TV and I'm sure even
better in person the helicoptersthere going around the pace lap
.
That was really cool.
That was not something I'veever seen before.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Yeah, that was very cool.
We sat in stand A, which we'dnever sat there.
We said they're great seats,especially if the sun was out
and just baking you because it'scovered.
But one of the things we missedwas couldn't really see those
helicopters.
You know you could see them,but you couldn't see them.
(14:58):
And then my wife loves it whenthe fighter jets fly over and we
really couldn't see them untilthey made their second pass over
and they flew right behind ourhead.
That was pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Well, another year in the book.
Yeah, Cell phone connectionmuch better now than the times
we tried to do it when you'reinside IMS.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Always a lot of fun.
I mean, I'm looking forward tomaybe going again next year, but
it's just about as fun to watchit on the big screen here and
text you and give each otherfeedback and ask questions.
What did you see?
Were they showing on TV?
What did you see live?
Speaker 1 (15:32):
I know that was fun, fun experience.
Yeah, I'm sure we had a fewhundred texts going back and
forth.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
My phone actually died at one point, so I wasn't
paying attention.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
If you don't go to the race next year, maybe we
should at least go to qualifyingor practice or something, just
to hang out there.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
We'll do it.
We can still text one anothereven though we're sitting next
to each other.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, for sure.
Well, it's always a pleasure,Jeff, to do this and appreciate
it.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yep, hey, hoosier Boy is one of my favorite days of
the year, so it's always good.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yep 364 days and we'll do it again.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
All right, my friend.
All right, buddy, take care.
All right, bye-bye.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Thank you for tuning in to Dan the road trip guy.
I hope you enjoyed our journeytoday and the stories that were
shared.
If you have any thoughts orquestions or stories of your own
, I'd love to hear from you.
Feel free to reach out to meanytime.
Don't forget to share thispodcast with your friends and
family and help us to spread thejoy of road trips and great
conversations.
Until next time, keep driving,keep exploring and keep having
(16:33):
those amazing conversations.
Safe travels and remember youcan find me on the internet at
dantheroadtripguycom.
Welcome to Dan the Road Trip Guy.
I'm your host, dan, and eachweek we'll embark on a new
adventure, discovering memoriesand life lessons of our
incredible guests, from everydaytravelers to thrill seekers and
everyone in between.
This podcast is your front rowseat to inspiring stories of
passion, resilience and thepursuit of happiness.
So buckle up and enjoy the ride.
(00:24):
Today it's my good friend, jeffZerker and I.
We have never watched theIndianapolis 500 together, but
(00:47):
that has not stopped us fromcontinual texting during the
race, no matter where each oneof us was at.
We literally text hundreds ofmessages back and forth during
the race, with our owncommentating on the race, and
this year was no different.
In the past we've done apre-race show to talk about the
upcoming race, and sometimes thereception is just not good if
I'm at the Speedway.
So this year we decided we'lldo a post-race show when each of
(01:10):
us was sitting in our ownstudios, and that's what you got
.
Coming at you Just a fewminutes with me and my good
friend Jeff Zerker as we talkabout the 109th running of the
Indianapolis 500.
I hope you enjoy thisconversation between two friends
who just love the Indianapolis500.
(01:31):
Well, we typically do apre-race show.
My good friend Jeff Zerker andI have done it a few years in a
row, but today we decided let'sdo a post-race show, number one,
because it's very difficult toget a cell connection.
I was in Indianapolis, jeff wasback here in lovely Cincinnati.
So how are you doing, jeff?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Hey, good afternoon Dan.
A lot better weather today,memorial Day, than it was
yesterday.
Certainly.
I know you took some rain andsome cold there at the track.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
We were not dressed appropriately for the day, but
we got through it.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
We were watching the broadcast on TV, of course, and
they were showing fans with notnecessarily winter coats, but
certainly fall attire, and myson, cale, asked me, dad, is it
cold there?
And I said, well, it's coldenough.
They were showing a temperatureof 63 degrees and a track
temperature to start about 72,which caused some issues early
on the sun.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
The sun never came out and the wind was.
The wind continued to blow andthen we get outside.
We're walking back to our carand we both my wife and I looked
at each other and it was likethere's no wind now.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Somehow it gets down into the 300,000 people in
circles around that track.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I'll tell you it was a.
It was a packed place, that'sfor sure.
Yeah, I'll tell you it was a.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
It was a packed place , that's for sure yeah, I
believe they said it was thefirst sellout in I don't know
2009, 2010.
Yeah, something wrong, but it's.
It's, yeah, the first time in along time.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So there were a lot of people there, for sure.
Well, let's talk about uh, youknow, leading up to this race,
last week's qualifying, when wesaw three Penske cars actually
in the top 12, but then somedrama occurred, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I mean, especially with the two-time defending
champ getting moved to the backrow.
Will Power as well, anothernotable name.
But yeah, you know Penske.
I was reading some articlesleading up to the race and you
know people, of course differentconspiracy theories with him,
with his position at theIndianapolis Motor Speedway now,
but man, I tell you, the carsavailed themselves well and I
(03:34):
saw that Penske fired a lot ofexecutives that were supposed to
be overseeing that kind ofthing.
I think he fired him last weekbefore the race.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yeah, he did, and you know it's a shame because most
of those folks have been withhim a long time and I don't know
did that little modification.
But as you and I know you knowtenths of seconds are a big deal
at that race.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, especially where you start from right.
And that was the big news,especially if Newgarden could
have finished, I mean, even ifhe wouldn't have won.
But just the number of placesgained, I think was almost a
record.
Uh, at one point uh, perhaps itwas it was near tied to the
record they're talking about onthe TV broadcast.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So he ran a he ran a good race and then he had that
mechanical issue in the pits,which, from where you were
sitting right Pit row, you saw,uh, an inordinate amount of
action on pit road we saw quitea bit, yeah, right in front of
us just about and, uh, you know,leading up to the race,
mclaughlin was also in the top12, but he crashed his car in
(04:33):
morning practice before, uh,qualifying yeah, I mean then you
know, just to going from whatI've listened, saw and heard on
tv, the track was cold and andhe's trying to break in the
tires and do the swerving andjust hit a cold spot or
something, maybe a little, evenmoisture perhaps.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Man, it was sad to see and he was definitely
distraught.
You feel so bad, not just forthe driver but the whole team.
I think that's what a lot ofpeople who maybe don't follow
racing don't think about is allthe people involved in getting
that car onto the track.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah, and this is not a weekend event.
This starts in early May afterthe Grand Prix and then they go
through enormous practice timeand then it comes down to
qualifying.
Qualifying is a littledifferent today.
I was looking back at an oldschedule, I think from 95, and
how much practice you know.
Pole day was the first Saturdayand that set the pole and then
(05:31):
everything else startedhappening after that.
It's a little bit differenttoday.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah, a little bit different, and nobody driving.
You know we had Helio in therace as kind of the grandfather,
but nobody driving back in 1995is certainly driving now,
speaking of new guys, robertSchwartzman, the first rookie on
the pole since Teo Fabi, Ithink, in 1983.
That was exciting for him.
(05:57):
I know he didn't finish like hewanted to, but it was neat to
see a rookie on the pole again.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, that was great to see and that's a new team.
Had a rookie rookie team on thepole this year.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, and interesting , His, his ethnicity is Israeli
Russian, so you don't you don'tsee too many Israeli Russian
guys in in open wheel.
So, uh, really reallyinteresting storyline for him Of
course.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Then you had, uh the veteran, uh veteran, Takuma Sato
, sitting in the middle of therow, 48 years old, and ended up
leading the most laps.
I just looked it up a momentago, but then unfortunately
overshot his pit stall.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Which we again, you know you're, you saw a lot of
that and, I think, the coldconditions.
A lot of guys said that brakeswere just locked up or gone and
slid through and hit, hit thewall or, you know, overshot
stops and that was a problem.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
something on the brakes and it starts smoking and
I thought wow, he's, he's donebefore we even start.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Right, I think you know he advantageous for him was
McLaughlin causing the yellowright so they didn't have to
start running hard.
And they, they said it was aleft rear caliper that they,
they changed out and yeah, sothat kind of ruined his day of
having to change out a caliper.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
But kudos to the team that they got it changed, got
him back out.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
I think this year too .
He just passed, looking at someof the notes from the race
Pat's AJ Foyt's record 20consecutive races in his number.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Well, and the other was he now has 408 IndyCar
starts, not Indy 500s, butIndyCar starts which just passed
, the legend Mario Andretti, whohad a 407.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Oh, wow, okay, yeah, I mean I think there was some
cool history made yesterday,even aside from the winner of
the poll, helio, trying to findthat stat I was reading about.
Um well, he had the fastest lap, which that's kind of
interesting.
And then, uh, you know, fourthplace all time and starts with
25, with Foyt being 35 and Mario29 and Alan Sir senior 27.
(08:15):
And uh, the one other piece ofhistory, helio.
He completed the race, the fullrace, for the 19th time and
that's a record.
And check this out, dan, he'srun 25 Indy 500s.
How many times do you thinkhe's finished the race?
Do you have any idea?
Speaker 1 (08:33):
You know, I don't know.
I'm assuming you've looked itup.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, it's not something I have in memory, but
23 out of 25 races he has loggedthe full go.
Wow, that's a testament,obviously, to him as a driver,
but, as we were talking aboutearlier, the team, yeah, that's
an amazing stat.
That might be one that willlast for a while.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
He still has just this fire, this passion.
I watched a reel on him showingoff his motorhome and it was
just like, oh my gosh, he'sselling everybody on a motorhome
, just showing off all thedetails of it.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I'd still like to see him get number five.
That would be well-deserved.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, that place would go crazy.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I was going to say another veteran who we like, Ed
Carpenter and his team, wasrunning really well the cars on
his team for a period, wasrunning really well on the cars
on his team for a period, buthe's now driven almost 10,000
laps in the 9,975, which isfifth place.
All time he surpassed TonyKanaan at this race, so good to
see Ed doing well.
(09:34):
And another Hoosier, ConnorDaly, had a good run there for a
while too.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, connor, there, uh, for a while too.
Yeah, connor.
And then you know, davidmalukas, uh, another, uh young
american who got, he got injuredearly last year and so he lost
his ride with arrow, and thisyear he got, uh, he got on with
with aj and uh, he ran a reallystrong race.
So that was good to see.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Yeah, let's talk about your friend Stingray Rob
for a minute.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Yeah, Stingray.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Unfortunate circumstance.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, you know, it was like we couldn't see that
crash.
It went past us.
But it looks like watching thereplay that Kyle Larson, who's a
NASCAR driver and was trying todo the double by going Indy 500
and then doing the NASCAR 600in Charlotte but it looked like
you saw it and you texted mewhat happened.
(10:26):
But he downshifted in thecorner, lost it, just hit.
Kiffin Simpson took.
Kiffin out and then Stingraytried to avoid, went up high and
got in the marbles and justcame down and hit the barrier.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yeah, and then he got out and stood up on his car and
basically raised his hands, his, stood up on his car and
basically raised his hands, uh,in exasperation.
Basically, you know what areyou doing, Kyle Larson, but I,
you know very, very measuredinterview.
Uh, later on, when they talkedto him and he had mentioned to
you know, they just didn't sweepit quite high enough.
They would have swept it alittle bit higher, he might have
(11:01):
been able to stay in it, butman, it just shows you those
high speeds.
You have a slight touch andit'll do it to you.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
You know for him and Kiffin just wrong place, wrong
time, right, yep, yeah.
But yeah, I texted his family Isaid hey, great interview he
gave, didn't place any blame andhe's just a fine young man.
So hopefully he had a greatfinish at Long Beach, so Knight.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Well, and you know, got to lead the 500 last year
and I think last year was therecord for number of race
leaders, if my memory served mecorrect, and I think this year
there was what 13 or 14 guys upfront at different times.
This year there was what 13 or14 guys up front at different
times with Hunter, ray and SatoI think were the top lapers
(11:49):
yesterday.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
But then we see Alex Pillow.
He's won five of six races thisyear.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
This young guy is just hard to beat.
Well, and the thing yesterday,you know, and you and I were
texting about this, it was, youknow, what's his, what's his
fuel strategy going to be downthe end, toward the end.
Erickson, of course he gotbumped, uh, with the post post
race inspection down to the end.
But you know, erickson wasgreat on fuel, great on tires
and, and alex was questionableon fuel and questionable on
(12:20):
tires.
But uh, man, once he got theword from the engineer and from
the team, he just he went rightaround Erickson and I think
those two cars that were lappeddown really helped him extend
his fuel where it didn't haveany worries, towards towards the
end there.
So it was great to see him winand you, you called it, you said
there's going to be a firsttime winner this year and
certainly fun to see him win.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Well, it was clear, you know you're looking at.
Well, of course Erickson's won,and so I'm looking at that list
and I'm going oh man, there'sgot to be a first timer here and
I was really happy to see that.
It was great to see.
Well, now AJ's car has moved tosecond place.
You mentioned the penaltyagainst Erickson, which is a
shame.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, Well, and another guy who just has been so
consistent these last four orfive years, pato award, uh up to
third and uh, you know he'sgotta be.
He's going to be breakingthrough, I think, in a victory
here the next couple of years.
It seems he's poised for that.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Yeah, and he is a fan favorite.
You could just sense it theraces we've been to, people just
love him and he's.
He's got the energy of likeelio uh, who just gets people
excited.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Oh, and aj had another car in fifth with uh uh
faroochi, yeah, yeah, good tosee, yep, and of course, ganassi
winning.
And uh, I saw a stat.
I think it was his sixth teamwin and second all-time behind
Penske with 20 maybe.
Yeah, long way to go, yeah, buthey, I think it's fun to see.
You know you don't want to calla Ganassi team underdog by any
(13:53):
stretch, but you know it seemslike lately when a Penske car
doesn't win, it's kind of aunique situation here.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah, for sure, and you know I was telling you, uh,
I found myself a bit emotionalyesterday and you know it's just
an emotional race, uh, not justthe auto race, but just the.
I call it kind of the tributeto America, the tribute to our
veterans, uh tribute to thosewho have given their lives, but
(14:20):
boy it it.
It was, uh seemed like it waswho have given their lives, but
boy it seemed like it was justbigger than I had seen in the
past.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, it was neat to see on TV and I'm sure even
better in person the helicoptersthere going around the pace lap
.
That was really cool.
That was not something I'veever seen before.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Yeah, that was very cool.
We sat in stand A, which we'dnever sat there.
We said they're great seats,especially if the sun was out
and just baking you because it'scovered.
But one of the things we missedwas couldn't really see those
helicopters.
You know you could see them,but you couldn't see them.
(14:58):
And then my wife loves it whenthe fighter jets fly over and we
really couldn't see them untilthey made their second pass over
and they flew right behind ourhead.
That was pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Well, another year in the book.
Yeah, Cell phone connectionmuch better now than the times
we tried to do it when you'reinside IMS.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Always a lot of fun.
I mean, I'm looking forward tomaybe going again next year, but
it's just about as fun to watchit on the big screen here and
text you and give each otherfeedback and ask questions.
What did you see?
Were they showing on TV?
What did you see live?
Speaker 1 (15:32):
I know that was fun, fun experience.
Yeah, I'm sure we had a fewhundred texts going back and
forth.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
My phone actually died at one point, so I wasn't
paying attention.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
If you don't go to the race next year, maybe we
should at least go to qualifyingor practice or something, just
to hang out there.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
We'll do it.
We can still text one anothereven though we're sitting next
to each other.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, for sure.
Well, it's always a pleasure,Jeff, to do this and appreciate
it.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yep, hey, hoosier Boy is one of my favorite days of
the year, so it's always good.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yep 364 days and we'll do it again.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
All right, my friend.
All right, buddy, take care.
All right, bye-bye.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Thank you for tuning in to Dan the road trip guy.
I hope you enjoyed our journeytoday and the stories that were
shared.
If you have any thoughts orquestions or stories of your own
, I'd love to hear from you.
Feel free to reach out to meanytime.
Don't forget to share thispodcast with your friends and
family and help us to spread thejoy of road trips and great
conversations.
Until next time, keep driving,keep exploring and keep having
(16:33):
those amazing conversations.
Safe travels and remember youcan find me on the internet at
dantheroadtripguycom.
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